Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-08-13
creans class OF people wno without any IMAM
o;al ai,;,;+y oroon;1o themselves info what;

1
cial ability, organize themselves into what
! they call life insurance company, ~ith
pretended capital OF $20O,000 or SSH, 600,
fhen vote yourself info The lucrative position,
and then take all the premiums for
Yourself, and then, at tile approach
of the state superintendent, drop all into the
! hands of those life insurance undertakers
whose business it is to gather up the remains
of dcfunct organizations and bury them in
| their own vault-tIlen, shy, you had better
get out OF the business, and disgorge the
widows houses you hnvo swallowed. But my
word is to all those who are legitimat.ly en-
gagged in the business. You ought to lrsl'et-
tor than other men, not only because Of the
responsibilities that rest upon you, but be-
cause the truth is ever confronting you that
your stay OH Garth is uncertain, and your life
q matter of II few days or'years. Dorot those
black edged lc, tiers that come iuto7your Office
make you tlinkl Does. not the doctors GER
! .illcate on the death claimsgive you thrilla
Your periodicals. your advertisements,
and even the litl,ography Of your policies
warn, yau that you: ale According
10; your OWL showing tile ttat on.
Wilde this year arc at least Q per cent. Are
you prepared for tho tremendous exiSencya5
4 The most condemned man in tho Judgment
day will he tho unprcrnrel life insurance
man, for the simple reason that his whole
business wns connected with human exit, and
he cannot say: ~ did not Think His wholea
business was to think OH TINT one
thing. 0, my brother, get insured for eter-
nifty In consideration of what Christ hos
done in your behalf, have tho indenture this
day made out, signed anG sealed with the red
seal of tic cross
But I have words Of encouragement and
comfort for those OF my hearers who are ell
gagged In the fire insurance business You
are ordained by God to stand between us and
the most raging element Of nuiure. We AFRO
indebted to You for what the national board
Of underwriters and tho convention of chiefs
OF tue fire department. have effected through
your suggestions and through your enconr-
agcment. We ore indebted to you for what
you have effected in the construction of
buildings, and in the change in the habits of
our cities; so that by scientific principles
orderly companies cxtnguish the fire, instead
OF the old time riots Which used to cxtinguisl
the citizersl And we nre indebted to you for
the successful demands you have mado for
the repeal OF unjust llws-for the hattle you
have waged against incendiarism and arson
for tle fatal blow you have given to the
theory that corporations have no souls, by
the clIcerfulness and promptitude with which
You have met losses, from which you might
have escaped through tho technicality of the
law. I do not know any class Of men i'll our
midst more high toned and worthy of conf
dence thap these neil, and yet have some
times feared that while your chief business
is to calculate about losses on earthly
property yon might without sufficient
thought go into that which, In regard to
Your soul, III your own parlance might
be called "hazards. !" extra hazards, "spe-
cial hazalglsn An unforgiven sin in the soul
is more innammable and explosive than cam
phene or nitr,glycerine. However the rates
may he-yea, though the whole earth were
paid down to you III one solid premiunl-you
cannot afford to loso your soul. Do not take
that risa, lest it be said hereafter that while
In this world you had keen business faculty,
when you went out of tue world you went
out evcrlnstingly insolvent The scientific
Hitchcocks and Sillimans, and Mitohells of
the world have united with the sacred writers
to make us believe that there Is coming
conflugration, to sweep across the earth, COM
pared with which that Of Chicago in 1871 and
that Of Boston in 1872, and that Of New York
III 1885, were Nero nothing. Brooklyn ON fire!
New York on flrc Charleston OIL fire! San
Francisco OH fire Canton on fire! st. Peters
burg on fire! Paris on ilrel London OIL FIRE!
the Andes on flrel the Appehines on fire! the
H,,nalaya on Grel What will bo peculiar
about tue day will be that. the water with
which we put out great fires will itself take
! T,cc;r. thn OhiO Ofll
the ST. Lawrence, and Lake Erie, and tho
Atlantic and the Pacific oceans and tuinblng
Niagara, shall with red tongues HEX tho
heavens The geological heats of the center
| of the world will burn out toward tho cir
conference, and the heats of the outside will
burn down from the circumference to the
center. and this world will become not only
according. to the Bible, but according to
science living coal, the living coal nfterward
whitening into ashes, the ashes scattered by
| the breath OF the last hurricane, and all that
will be left Of this glorious planet will he tho
flakes Of ashes fallen on other worlds. Oh OIL
that day will you be 1reproof, or will you be
q total loss! Will you be rescued, or will you
be consumed! When this great cathedral OF
the world, with its pillars Of rocks, and its
pinnacles OF mountains, and its cellar OF
golden mine, and its upholstery OF morning
/ eloud, and its baptisulal font Of the sea, shall
blaze, will you get out OIL the fire escape OF
the Lords dcliverance? Oh on that day
for which all other days were made, may
it be found that these life insurance men had
paid up policy, and these fire insurance men
had given them, instead of the debris of
consumed worldly estate, u house not made
with hands, eternal in tue heavens.